Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the world’s first female elected head of government, as Prime Minister of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on this day in 1960.

Did you know that:

• Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña was the first European to discover the Marquesas Island in Eastern Polynesia on this day in 1595
• John Locke’s Constitution of English colony Carolina was approved on this day in 1669
• Robin Williams was an American actor and comedian born on this day in 1951

// Compiled by Zoya Siddiqui